Sensex slips into red after firm start

Mumbai, Jan 15: The sensitive index at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) slipped into negative zone after resuming the day at a positive note.

The benchmark Sensex opened 108.42 points up at 20,836.47 from its previous close of 20,728.05 on initial buyings in the early trade. Soon after, it failed to sustain the gains on selling interest and slipped into deep red at 20,565, lost more than 160 point in mid-morning trade. Similarly, after making a firm start, Nifty index at National Stock Exchange (NSE) landed into red. Nifty resumed the day at 6,226.35, gained 20 points from its previous close of 6,206.80.

ICICI Bank and Infosys Technologies declined. Realty and consumer durables stocks were in demand. Banking and IT stocks declined.

Bharti Airtel declined for the second consecutive day. The market breadth was positive. 17 of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red. Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, were mostly in the red.

The early slide on the bourses today is attributed to the liquidity drain from the secondary market as the large IPO of Reliance Power opened for subscription today, traders said.

The IPO of Reliance Power was fully subscribed within minutes of the opening of the book-building offer today. As per NSE data, the IPO received bids for 33.67 crore shares compared to issue size of 22.80 crore shares.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.91 pc to 9,623.36 and BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.32 pc to 13,032.50. The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1509 shares advanced as compared to 832 that declined and 42 remained unchanged.